The year 2021 has been a year of many challenges. One such challenge has been making Gairy St. Clair’s vision of bringing a world title fight to his home country of Guyana a reality. With COVID-19 raging around the world and international travel still on hold for Australians, St Clair, a former world champion, has had no choice but to postpone the event that was planned for later this year.
“It’s disappointing and upsetting especially for the young fighters who have been training so hard in Guyana,” said St Clair.
“This was going to be the biggest night of their lives, their chance to be the best in the world
COVID-19 has been a major obstacle to overcome in order for St Clair’s dream of a world title fight in his beloved country to come true. While not being affected by the virus itself, it has affected the former IBO world champion’s ability to travel back to Georgetown, as Australia’s international borders are currently closed and residents are not able to leave the country, with thousands of Australian citizens currently stranded overseas.
Vaccination rates in both Australia and Guyana have also played a major role in the postponement of the event, which was to be the night for two world title fights. The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in Georgetown requires all its attendees to be fully vaccinated before entering.
St. Clair understands that many people are still hesitant to get the vaccine, but believes that with a little more time up his team’s sleeves this will not be an issue.
In addition to this, all of St. Clair’s team in Australia will need to be vaccinated in order to travel when the international borders reopen. Like many places in Guyana, vaccination will also be a requirement for entry into many venues in Australia, including the Gairy St. Clair Boxing Fitness Gym and Gairy St. Clair Superhero Fight Night in Australia. St. Clair’s 19th Superhero Fight Night is another event that has had to be postponed, as it was to be held in November this year and will now be in March next year.
“I love Guyana so much, and it is always on my mind,” St Clair continues. “I miss it; I have my family and my kids there, and can’t wait to get back there to see everyone. It’s been a very disappointing time.”
However, in true St. Clair fashion, he is not giving up.
“We will now hold the fight night in August of next year, which feels like a much better time. By then everyone should be vaccinated and we will be able to travel over. We just need to get COVID-19 out of the background and then we will be good to go.”
The World Boxing League (WBL) has informed St. Clair that they will hold the world titles, which ensures that Guyanese fighters Dexter Marx and Elton Dharry will each still be fighting for the championship in August.
